National Instruments (NI) has launched a series of PXI, PXI Express and PXI real-time embedded controllers based on the 2.16 GHz dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7400.

The NI PXI-8106 and NI PXIe-8106 controllers deliver a performance improvement of more than 100% compared to systems running traditional single-core processors. With two cores or computing engines in one processor the new PXI and PXI Express controllers can simultaneously execute two computing tasks.

With the dual-core processor, the NI PXI-8106 and NI PXIe-8106e embedded controllers seamlessly integrate with multitasking environments, such as Windows XP, in which multiple applications run simultaneously, as well as multithreaded applications, such as the National Instruments LabVIEW graphical development platform, in which multiple threads execute in parallel.

With the new Intel Core 2 Duo architecture, the NI PXI-8106 and NI PXIe-8106 controllers deliver up to a 46% performance improvement for NI LabVIEW applications compared to systems using an Intel Core Duo processor, Intel’s previous-generation dual-core architecture.

The integrated ExpressCard slot gives engineers the choice of additional peripheral I/O, such as external RAID hard-drive arrays for high-speed streaming to disk. The controllers also feature a Serial ATA hard drive, DVI-I digital and analogue video, and additional I/O such as Hi-Speed USB, GPIB, serial and parallel. They can also be equipped with an extended-temperature, extended-operation hard drive for applications that include high and low temperature extremes or require 24/7 operation.

The NI PXI-8106, NI PXIe-8106 and NI PXI-8106 RT embedded controllers come with Windows XP Professional or LabVIEW Real-Time installed. Controllers with Windows XP include hard drive-based recovery, which engineers can use to restore their systems back to factory default if necessary. The controllers work with a variety of NI software including LabVIEW, the LabVIEW Real-Time Module, LabWindows/CVI software for ANSI C development and NI TestStand test management software.

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